one city, one plan - chapter 9 - infrastructure and ......capacity, and cause basement backups,...

One City, One Plan

Infrastructure and Community Facilities

Chapter 9

KEY TOPICS • Community Facilities and Infrastructure

• Educational Facilities

DRAFT 11/5/09 FOR DISCUSSION ONLY SUBJECT TO PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PROCESS

One City, One Plan– POCD 2020

9‐ 2


9‐ 3

Introduction

This section presents an overview of the current

inventory of community facilities and municipal

infrastructure in Hartford and identifies pro‐

posed facility and infrastructure improvements

needed to accommodate forecasted residential

and non‐residential growth or to identify/resolve

existing infrastructure problems and problem

areas. This section focuses on the ten‐year time

horizon of this Plan update. The locations of the

Hartford’s major facilities are shown on the map

titled “Community Facilities”.

The City provides a broad range of services

including public safety, public roads, solid waste

collection, health and social services, culture and

recreation, education, planning, development,

zoning, and general administration services. For

the purposes of the Plan, community facilities

include public buildings, general government

facilities, schools, police and fire stations, librar‐

ies, public housing, and senior citizen centers

that serve the general or specific needs of the

public. Municipal infrastructure includes sani‐

tary and storm sewers & flood control struc‐

tures, public water supply, dams and solid waste

disposal. Parks and recreation facilities as well

as the transportation infrastructure are not dis‐

cussed in this section; rather these topics are

addressed individually in other sections.

The physical facilities sections and school facili‐

ties sections of this chapter are updates to two

reports from 2006. The physical facilities study

titled “Analysis of Selected General Government

Facilities”, was undertaken to review and evalu‐

ate the City’s general government facility capacity

needs to determine which facilities are best

suited for consolidation, renovation, or reconfigu‐

ration to meet its near term facility requirements.

Recommendations and conclusions contained in

that report have been and are still being imple‐

mented today. The study titled “Analysis of the

Hartford Public School Facilities – Capital

Improvement Program” was undertaken to

evaluate the Hartford school systems future

educational facilities needs in light of enrollment

trends and development of magnet schools.

The recommendations and conclusions

contained in the 2006 report helped guide policy

decisions regarding school construction, renova‐

tion and programmatic changes over the past

three years. Both reports were integral to the

preparation of this Plan of Conservation and

Development.


Public Water and Sewer

The water and sewer systems in Hartford are

provided by the Metropolitan District Commis‐

sion (MDC). The MDC is a non‐profit municipal

corporation chartered by the Connecticut


9‐ 4

General Assembly in 1929 to provide potable

water and sewerage services on a regional basis.

Today, the MDC provides quality water supply,

water pollution control, mapping, and house‐

hold hazardous waste collection to eight munici‐

palities; Bloomfield, East Hartford, Hartford,

Newington, Rocky Hill, West Hartford, Wethers‐

field and Windsor. The MDC engages in long‐

term capital planning for both systems.

The City is served by the MDC’s West Hartford

Water Treatment Facility located on Farmington

Avenue. This facility was constructed in 5 stages

from 1920‐1960 and has the capacity to treat

more than 50 million gallons per day (MGD)

from Barkhamsted and Nepaug Reservoirs. Both

reservoirs have a combined capacity of nearly 40

billion gallons.

The water system in Hartford is a mature

system, in which every street is served. There

has been a shrinking demand for water in recent

years. From 1990 to 2000, the system wide

demand dropped from 66 MGD to 60 MGD. The

City’s average daily demand for water is

between ? million gallons per day (mgd), and

there are approximately ? water service

accounts in Hartford.

Hartford’s original sewer system is 150 years old

and was originally designed to support 15,000

people. Hartford relies on a combined sewer

system (CSS) to manage wastewater. A CSS is a

type of sewer system which provides partially

separated channels for sanitary sewage and

stormwater. This system design allows the

sanitary sewer to provide extra capacity for the

stormwater when volumes are unusually high. A

combined sewer overflow (CSO) is device

designed to allow a certain amount of flow to

discharge into a water course untreated to keep

the system from becoming surcharged in storm

conditions. Additional problems arise from infil‐

tration of groundwater during storms through

cracks and breaks in the pipes. Drainage from

rooftops and sump pumps also burden the

system during peak volumes.

This results in the sewers sending extra‐large

flow volumes to the treatment plant. These

sewage flows exceed the facility’s treatment

capacity, and cause basement backups, street

flooding, and discharges of raw sewage to local

streams and the Connecticut River. The MDC

estimates that these problems occur more than

50 times per year releasing upwards of 1 billion

gallons of untreated sewage in Greater Hartford.

The MDC’s Clean Water Project is aimed at

greatly reducing CSOs within Hartford through

various separations and infrastructure related

projects. This project will address approximately

one billion gallons of combined wastewater and

stormwater currently released each year into

area waterways. Individual projects range from

new sewers and drainage systems to increased

wastewater treatment capacity to new tunnel

storage and conveyance. These projects will help

Location Map of Barkhamsted and Nepaug Reser‐voirs. (MDC)

Construction of Hartford’s sewer system began in 1929


9‐ 5

to eliminate sewage discharges to area water‐

ways during an average year, significantly

improving water quality. Work is planned to be

completed in at least two phases. Phase I will

cover the first six years of the program and is

budgeted at $800 million. The remaining work is

planned for 2012 after an assessment of Phase I.

Phase I sewer separation of the CSO reduction

program covers the following areas: Franklin

Avenue, Tower Avenue, Granby Street, Upper

Albany, Farmington Avenue, and Park River.

Additional Phase I work will include two new

tunnels‐the south conveyance and the deep

rock, restoration of Gully Brook, and other pipe‐

lines to relieve water bodies from unwanted

discharge.

The MDC’s Hartford plant is located at 244

Brainard Road in the City’s South End. This plant

is the largest sewage treatment plant in the

state, handling an average of about 60 million

gallons of wastewater daily. The plant currently

has the capacity to handle 120 MGD of wastewa‐

ter daily during storms. Overall lack of capacity

has been a problem for this facility. Over the

next decade, the MDC plans to expand this

facility to be able to treat between 180 MGD to

250 MGD of wastewater. Also, as part of this

expansion the MDC will also begin generating

electricity from the sewer sludge it burns in its

incinerators at the plant. Estimates indicate that

the process will provide up to 50 percent of the

plant's power needs.

Solid Waste Disposal

The City contracts its solid waste disposal

services with the Connecticut Resources Recov‐

ery Authority (CRRA), which participates within

the Mid‐Connecticut Project Area. Solid wastes

are disposed of at Mid‐Connecticut Refuse

Derived Facility (RDF) trash to energy facility

which is located at 300 Maxim Road.

The Hartford landfill was actually two landfills –

a double‐lined ash disposal area and the main

disposal area, which receives process residue

and other bulky and types of waste. Under the

revised closure plan approved by the Connecti‐

cut Department of Environmental Protection,

the landfill received its final delivery no later

than Dec. 31, 2008. The plan calls for the instal‐

lation of a state‐of‐the‐art synthetic cap for the

entire 80‐acre landfill. The future of the site is

undetermined, one possible reuse could be the

development of a park and multi‐use trails.

The MDC also handles waste transportation and

processing operations associated with the Mid

Connecticut Project, a trash‐to‐energy facility

serving more than 65 Connecticut municipalities.

Trash‐to‐energy facilities burn garbage and use

that heat to in turn boil water to create steam.

The steam spins a turbine that generates elec‐

tricity. This process not only creates electricity

from garbage, but it also reduces the garbage to

ash. The volume of the ash that needs to be

landfill is 75 percent to 80 percent less than the

Aerial View of MDC’s Hartford Plant

The Hartford Landfill closed in December, 2008


9‐ 6

volume of the original garbage.

The Mid‐Connecticut Project has a container

recycling facility, located at 211 Murphy Road,

Hartford, and a paper recycling facility, located

at 123 Murphy Road, Hartford. City sanitation

operations include residential curbside refuse

collection, curbside recycling, drop‐off bulky

waste and drop‐off leaf collection. Household

hazardous waste collection is coordinated

through the MDC. Household hazardous waste

collections are conducted six times per year and

are hosted in different communities in the re‐

gion. Collection of household electronics occurs

on an annual basis in the downtown by CRRA.

Public Works Facilities

The City’s Public Works Department maintains

all city streets and public right of way amenities

including traffic controls, all city parks and

grounds, all public buildings, all flood control

components, and all city owned vehicles. In ad‐

dition, Public Works provides a number of criti‐

cal services to the public including waste and

recycling collection, leaf collection, street

sweeping and cleaning, and support of special

events held throughout the city. The depart‐

ment also plays a significant role in the Rodent

Control Program.

The City’s Department of Public Works (DPW)

professional staffing and records department

are currently located at 525 Main Street in the

City Hall Annex. The DPW’s 24.3 acre facility

located at 40 Jennings Road functions as a stor‐

age and maintenance facility for the depart‐

ment’s fleet of vehicles, construction materials

and equipment and salt storage.

Capital improvements for this facility include the

replacement of the elevator in 2009 and building

renovations for health and safety code updates

for 2010 and 2011 fiscal years. Also, full capacity

generators that allow electricity to continue run‐

ning in case of emergency, or problems with the

CL&P grid are scheduled to be installed in the

coming fiscal year. Additional funds are needed

to construct a Salt/Sand storage facility and a

truck/equipment washing facility at the DPW

Aerial View of CRRA’s Mid‐Connecticut Facility

Aerial View of Public Works Jennings Rd Facility


9‐ 7

yard. This shed is needed to comply with envi‐

ronmental laws.

City Roads, Sidewalks and Bridges

The roadway system within the City of Hartford

is comprised of a series of interconnected corri‐

dors with varying levels of roadway functional

classification. According to the Connecticut

Department of Transportation, as of 2006, the

City of Hartford was served by 225.9 miles of

public roads, 91.5% percent of which are City

roads (206.6 miles) and the remaining 8.5% (9.3

miles) are State Roads.

The City has approximately 1,800,000 linear feet

(340 miles) of sidewalks maintained by the

Department of Public Works. The City’s Side‐

walk Replacement Project replaces existing side‐

walks in the City that have deteriorated due to

age, damage and other factors. This project

preserves the City's infrastructure and reduces

the City's liability. This project will be funded at

$50,000 per year for 2008‐2010 and $500,000

per year for 2012‐1013 and 2016‐2017.

According to the Connecticut Department of

Environmental Protection (DEP), Bureau of

Water Management's Inland Water Resources

Division computerized inventory, there are 36

dams located in Hartford and over 4,000 state‐

wide. Keney Park Pond Dam and Pumping Pond

Dam are the only dams owned by the City. The

remaining dams are privately owned, typically

small and do not pose a significant hazard to the

public.

Due to the number of waterways, railroads, and

culverts that pass through the City, Hartford has

a number of bridge maintenance responsibilities.

Currently the City is responsible for 56 bridges

on local roadways. Of these bridges 9 have

spans greater than 20 feet while the remaining

47 have spans less than 20 feet with a majority

being small brook and culverts, and conduits of

less than 10 feet. An additional 121 bridges are

located in Hartford and fall under the following

jurisdictions: State of Connecticut Department of

Transportation (106), MDC (4), and Conrail (11).

The City’s Bridge Rehabilitation Program repairs

deteriorated bridges that pose a risk to public

safety. The City has over $3,000,000 earmarked

for repairs to bridge infrastructure over the next

10 years.

General Government Facilities

In addition to police, fire, education, social

service and public works facilities described

herein, the City has a significant number of other

governmental facilities. The Municipal Building

located at 550 Main Street currently houses

most of the appointed and elected officials as

well as a majority of the City’s administrative

services staff. The City Hall Annex located at 525

Main Street houses the Department of Public

Works professional staffing and records, Police

Department’s Traffic Division, and City Audit.

Charter Oak Memorial Bridge

Keney Park Pond


9‐ 8

The City leases approximately 80,775 square

feet of office space at 250 and 260 Constitution

Plaza. 250 Constitution Plaza accommodates

Development Services, Probate Court, City Treas‐

urer, and Pension Offices. The leased space in

260 Constitution Plaza accommodates Metro

Hartford Information Service, Development

Services, Rebuilding Together, and inspectors

from the City Health Department. This 15 year

lease is scheduled to terminate in June of 2017.

The Board of Education Offices are located in

approximately 69,000 square feet of leased

office and storage space in the G. Fox Building.

This building currently houses Central Office,

Curriculum, Finance, Central Duplicating, and

Admissions. This lease is scheduled to terminate

in the June of 2010. The map titled Community

Facilities, which follows this page, highlights the

locations of Hartford’s various community

facility assets.

Public Safety

The City’s Police Department is staffed by 526

full‐time employees as of August 2009. The ma‐

jority of police functions operate out of the

Headquarters located at 50 Jennings Road. The

department also operates four active substa‐

tions at 20 Sergeant St (Northwest), 134 Affleck

Street (Southwest), 525 Main Street (Southeast),

and 636 Albany Ave (Northeast).

Construction of the new Public Safety Complex

in the Central Business District on High Street

began in the Spring of 2009. The com‐

plex ,which is scheduled to open in the summer

of 2011, is comprised of: a 55,000 SQF building,

101,000 SQF building and a parking garage. This

facility is one of the major capital improvements

planned for the City’s emergency services. The

Public Safety Complex is a “green facility” with

heating, cooling, and electricity provided by a

central fuel cell system. This facility will house

first responders‐‐‐ police, fire administration, fire

marshals, traffic division and central dispatch.

The new facility will replace the former Police

Headquarters at 50 Jennings Road and centralize

the police functions in the City’s Downtown.

The Pearl Street Station may need to be relo‐

cated due to a commitment the City made to

redevelop the site as part of the Downtown

West Phase I Plan.

Hartford’s Fire Department is divided into five

divisions: Alarms and Signal, Equipment and

Maintenance, Fire Preventions Bureau, Fire

Training Division, Headquarters, Management

Services, and Special Services. The Fire Depart‐

ment Headquarters is currently located at 275

Pearl Street, but is scheduled to move to the

new public safety complex. The City’s Fire

Department is staffed by 335 full‐time employ‐

ees as of August 2009. The Fire Training Center

is located on Jennings Road adjacent to the

Police Headquarters and Public Works Garage.

The Fire Department has recently made recom‐

Municipal Building , 550 Main Street

Municipal Building Interior


9‐ 9

mendations on the siting of a new fire station in

the vicinity of Adriaen’s Landing.

Traffic Division

The City’s traffic division will be relocated from

the City Hall Annex to the Public Safety complex

and major technological improvements are

planned for the City’s traffic division. The exist‐

ing traffic control system is unreliable and local

control hardware is based on decades old tech‐

nology that is not well supported by the traffic

control system manufacturer. Based on the ex‐

isting system’s performance, failure is routine

and unpredictable. Most errors and failures are

discovered by citizen complaints rather than sys‐

tem reports. The $15 million program is pro‐

posed to upgrade or replace Integrated Surface

software, central control hardware, local control

hardware and local control firmware. This will

also include bringing new traffic control technol‐

ogy to 220 intersections under computer con‐

trol. The state of the art traffic control signal

system can provide for a smooth flow of traffic

along City streets, reducing congestion and

stopped vehicles, thereby improving air quality

and reducing fuel consumption.

Public Library System

Hartford’s public library system traces its roots

to 1774 when the Librarian Company acquired a

collection of books. In 1838, The Hartford Li‐

brary Association with taxpayer support, opened

to the public. In 1893, the name changed to the

Hartford Public Library.

The Central Library at 500 Main Street originally

opened in 1957 with substantial expansions and

renovations completed in 2008. With a collec‐

tion of over 500,000 items, the facility offers

online, computer catalogue, public computer

terminals, specialized collections and directed

community programs. The Library is fully acces‐

sible to the blind, visually and hearing impaired.

An important feature of

the Hartford Library Sys‐

tem is its branch libraries

located throughout the

City. These branches are

key components of the

neighborhoods they

serve. Planned improve‐

ments to the system

include the replacement

of the Albany Branch

and improvements to

the Parkville Community

library. Land has been

purchased for a new

Library in Asylum Hill.

Senior Centers

There are five senior

centers managed by the

City and community

Rendering of New Public Safety Complex

Hartford Branch Libraries

Branch SizeVisits Per Month

Program Attendance Per

MonthPopulation Served

Albany Branch 1250 Albany Ave. 5,400 sf 4215 1062 6583Barbour Branch 281 Barbour St. 1,775 sf 1921 474 10137Blue Hills Branch 649 Blue Hills Ave. 1,425 sf 1792 396 10440Campfield Branch 30 Campfield Ave. 4,500 sf 8050 284 26456Dwight Branch 7 New Park Ave. 2,160 sf 2300 441 5206Goodwin Branch 460 New Britain Ave. 4,200 sf 1520 237 15930Mark Twain Branch 256 Farmington Ave. 4,000 sf 2446 298 20631Park St. Branch 744 Park St. 2,000 sf 1656 130 9323SAND/Ropkins Branch 1750 Main St. 5,600 sf 9869 485 6516Library on Wheels City‐wide


9‐ 10

based agencies:

• Parkville Senior Center, 11 New Park Ave

• Salvation Army, 120 Sigourney St

• North End Senior Center, 80 Coventry St

• South End Wellness Senior Center, 830

Maple Ave

• Hispanic Senior Center, 45 Wadsworth

Ave

Operating on a year round basis, the centers

offer health screenings, recreation, information

on a wide range of senior topics, outreach,

nutrition and benefits counseling. Major im‐

provements are slated for the North End Senior

Center. This is a renovation and expansions of

an existing building that include the kitchen

area, community room, additional storage,

exercise area and HVAC improvements.

Health and Human Services

The Department of Health and Human Services is

located at 2 Holcomb Street in the McCook build‐

ing. The McCook building currently houses the

department’s Human Services, Workforce Devel‐

opment and School Readiness programs. This

department is divided into nine divisions: Com‐

munity Services, Disease Prevention and Health

Promotion, Environmental Health, Epidemiology,

Maternal and Child Care, Office of Cultural Affairs,

Public Health Preparedness, Recreation and

Senior Services. Currently, the McCook building is

being closed and staff are being redistributed

throughout available space in City buildings.

The Burgdorf Complex 2006 Plan called for

moving Health and Human Services from the

McCook building to the neighboring Burgdorf

building. The Burgdorf building was constructed

in 1966 and once housed the Burgdorf Health

Center. It was replaced by the construction of the

new Burgdorf/Fleet Health Center in association

with the Mount Sinai Hospital in 1996. The Build‐

ing is now unoccupied and used for storage

except for the 11,400 square foot north wing that

has been recently refinished as the North End

Senior Center. This building is known to contain a

substantial amount of asbestos containing mate‐

rial within its un‐renovated sections. The City has

over $15 million allocated to the Burgdorf

Complex Plan over the next four fiscal years for

environmental remediation and campus planning.

The plan proposed to take McCook offline and

reuse the Burgdorf complex. This project which

stems from the recommendation in the 2006

report titled “Analysis of Selected General Gov‐

ernment Facilities” is the first of a multi‐year pro‐

gram to consolidate for efficiency improvements.

Recreation Centers

The City of Harford provides services, activities,

and public facilities at five community centers

around the city.:

• Parker Memorial Community Center,

2621 Main St

• Pope Park Recreation Center, 30 Pope Dr

• Willie Ware Recreation Center, 697 Fire Dept. Headquarters Pearl St.

Hartford Public Library at 500 Main Street


9‐ 11

Windsor St

• Metzner Recreation Center, 680 Franklin

Ave

• Blue Hills Recreation Center, 9 Lebanon St

Each year improvements to these facilities and

centers are proposed in the City’s Capital Im‐

provement Plan. Several of these proposals are

listed below:

• The Pope Park Master Plan, proposes

improvements to enhance the walkways,

and improve security, visibility and ex‐

pand the play area at Pope Park located

in the Frog Hollow neighborhood.

• The first phase of the Parker Memorial

Center/Kelvin D. Anderson Gymnasium to

create a new 36,000 square foot recrea‐

tion center was completed in the North‐

east Neighborhood, which included a

pool, locker rooms and game room. The

second phase of the project which in‐

cludes a community room is scheduled to

be completed in 2010.

• A new facility has also been proposed in

the Blue Hills neighborhood to serve rec‐

reation programs and community needs.

Educational Facilities

Public School System

Traditional Public Schools

At present, the City of Hartford has 35 tradi‐

tional public elementary, middle and high

schools. This number includes 24 elementary

schools, two middle schools, seven high schools

and the two branches of the Hartford Transi‐

tional Learning Academy (HTLA). There is a wide

variety of grade configurations represented, and

the school system is currently in the process of

reconfiguring from an elementary school/middle

school/high school format to one of PreK‐8 and

9‐12 schools. The locations of Hartford’s school

facilities are shown on the map titled “Hartford

School Facilities”.

Interdistrict Magnet Schools – CREC

The Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) cur‐

rently manages 14 magnet schools within the

greater Hartford region. Of these 14 schools,

five are located within the City of Hartford. All

14 schools are open to Hartford students. CREC

also has two magnet schools under develop‐

ment: CREC Medical Professions and Teacher

Preparation Magnet School and Connecticut

River Academy.

Capitol Region Choice Program

The Capitol Region Choice program began in

1998 following the passage of Public Act 97‐290

by the State Legislature. This Act created the

Open Choice program, of which the Capitol Re‐

gion Choice program is one component. The

Open Choice program is a voluntary statewide

program for public school districts that enables

students from one school district to attend

school in another district. The three stated pur‐

Burgdorf Building

A.I. Prince Technical High School


9‐ 12

poses of the program are to improve academic

achievement, provide a choice in educational

programs for all students, and reduce racial and

economic isolation of students. Regional educa‐

tion service centers (RESCs), of which there are

six in the state, exist to help coordinate regional

cooperation efforts among their member school

districts and oversee state grants awarded as

part of the Open Choice program. The Capitol

Region Education Council (CREC) serves as the

RESC for the Capitol region, and the Capitol Re‐

gion Choice Program is its piece of the statewide

Open Choice program. The Capitol Region

Choice Program is a continuation of Project Con‐

cern, a successful interdistrict public school inte‐

gration program run by the City of Hartford

Board of Education from 1966 to 1998.

At present, 27 school districts participate in the

Capitol Region Choice program, and 1,100 Hart‐

ford students participate in the program.

Charter Schools

State legislation enacted in 1997 enabled the

creation of charter schools, which are essentially

independent public schools authorized by the

State of Connecticut Board of Education. The

schools are only accountable to their charter‐

granting agency, which in the case of state char‐

ter schools is the State Board of Education and in

the case of local charter schools is the local or

regional board of education that creates the

school. The charters contain language describ‐

ing the educational program and goals of the

school as well as the performance measures to

be used to identify progress toward these goals.

Charters are granted for up to five years, at

which point they are evaluated based upon the

performance measures included in the charter

language. Based upon this evaluation, schools

are then either re‐chartered, given a short char‐

ter extension, or are closed down. Each charter

school is overseen by a governing board that

may be comprised of teachers, parents, commu‐

nity members, or a combination thereof. Char‐

ter schools emphasize small class size, a variety

of focused educational programs, increasing pa‐

rental involvement in the educational process,

and improving student achievement.

An evaluation of Connecticut’s charter schools

conducted by The Evaluation Center of Western

Michigan University and completed in Septem‐

ber 2002 noted that “charter school reform is

not growing rapidly and is unlikely to be a threat

to local districts.” At present, there are four

charter schools in the Hartford area:

• Jumoke Academy, located on Blue Hills

Avenue in Hartford’s North End;

• Achievement First Hartford Academy,

located on Lyme Street in Hartford’s Blue

Hills neighborhood;

• Charter School for Young Children on

Asylum Hill, located on Asylum Avenue in

Hartford’s Asylum Hill neighborhood; and

• Odyssey Community School in Manchester.

Hartford Magnet Middle School

Montessori Magnet School


9‐ 13

Jumoke Academy has approximately 412 stu‐

dents in grades kindergarten through eighth

grade, while the Achievement First Hartford

Academy has 252 students in kindergarten, first

grade and fifth grade. The Charter School for

Young Children on Asylum Hill has 136 students

in their pre‐K and kindergarten programs, and

the Odyssey Community School has 175 middle

grade students from grades four through eight.

All of these schools are state charter schools and

report to the State Department of Education

rather than their respective local school districts.

Mayor’s Independent Schools Initiative

The Mayor’s Independent Schools Initiative is a

program inaugurated in July 2005 that will en‐

able Hartford school children to attend local col‐

lege preparatory schools. The initiative was a

product of Mayor Perez’s blue ribbon commis‐

sion on higher education, United Technologies

Corporation. The purpose of the initiative is to

raise the college attendance rate of Hartford

high school seniors.

As a mechanism to support the development of

this initiative, a new foundation called the Hart‐

ford Youth Scholars Foundation was created in

2005 to raise additional scholarship funds and to

help coordinated student‐related services such

as transportation. An additional component of

this foundation is the Steppingstone Academy

program, which provides academic enrichment

and social services to a select group of Hartford

7th graders. These 7th graders must be nomi‐

nated for the program by a teacher, school ad‐

ministrator or community leader, and get to take

part in two six‐week summer class sessions and

one academic year class session.

Children’s Educational Opportunity Foundation

The Children’s Educational Opportunity Founda‐

tion is a privately funded organization that pro‐

vides financial assistance for school choice to

low‐income families. The foundation began in

1995 in the City of Bridgeport, and was ex‐

panded to include Hartford in 1998. In order to

be eligible to receive funding from the founda‐

tion, a family must have an income below 200%

of the federal poverty level for the applicable

household size and must live in New Haven,

Hartford or Bridgeport. Funding is in the form of

scholarships for up to 50% of annual tuition, to a

maximum of $1,900 per year, for use at any pri‐

vate or parochial school. The scholarships are

only available for grades kindergarten to fifth

grade, but may be renewed until eighth grade if

the scholarship was awarded initially for kinder‐

garten to fifth grade.

Private and Parochial Schools

The cities and suburbs outside of Hartford are

home to a variety of private schools that poten‐

tially offer educational choice options to stu‐

dents living in the City of Hartford. Many of the

private high schools and boarding schools are

identified in the section discussing the Mayor’s

Classical Magnet School

SS. Cyril and Methodius Catholic School


9‐ 14

Independent Schools Initiative above. However,

there are also schools associated with religious

organizations at the elementary and middle

school level that have not been identified by

name.

The Archdiocese of Hartford oversees 59

elementary and middle schools, 4 Archdiocesan

Catholic high schools, 5 private Catholic high

schools, and 53 pre‐kindergarten programs within

its boundaries, with a total enrollment of nearly

18,000. Of these, 20 Catholic elementary schools,

one stand‐alone preschool program and two

Catholic high schools are located within the

immediate area surrounding the City of Hartford.

While only St. Augustine School and SS. Cyril and

Methodius School are located within the City of

Hartford, the other 18 schools are sufficiently

close to the city that they are capable of attract‐

ing students from within Hartford. In addition to

the 20 elementary schools, there are two Catho‐

lic high schools located in the greater Hartford

area: East Catholic High School, located in Man‐

chester; and Northwest Catholic, located in West

Hartford.

Provision of Early Childhood Education Services

In addition to numerous private sector provid‐

ers, daycare and preschool services are offered

through the Hartford school system. These ser‐

vices are provided by the Hartford Public

Schools, the City of Hartford and the Community

Renewal Team. The vision underlying the provi‐

sion of these services is to move toward univer‐

sal preschool and serve as many of the City’s

four year‐olds as possible, while gradually bring‐

ing the three year‐old children within the City of

Hartford into the system. A more long‐term goal

of adding classroom space for infants and tod‐

dlers is also under consideration.

This list is likely to grow even more if and when

more classroom space is allocated for providing

services to the three year‐old cohort, as many

people from surrounding communities who

work in Hartford may be drawn to place their

children in the daycare component.

As the City moves forward in meeting its goal of

expanding early childhood education options, it

must be cognizant of enrollment and physical

capacity situations of its existing educational

facilities and how these realities impact the pro‐

vision of space for early childhood education.

Since the completion of the 2040 Plan in 2000,

several changes have occurred in the Hartford

school system. The Sheff v. O’Neill stipulated

agreement from 2003 has compelled the crea‐

tion of several new magnet schools, of which six

involve the conversion of existing schools to

magnet schools. In addition, while the renova‐

tion scenario outlined in the 2040 Plan has been

followed in general, for a variety of reasons

there has not been a strict adherence to the

timeline put forth as part of the twelve‐year sce‐


9‐ 15

nario included as part of this plan. Thus, the

actual phasing of renovations deviates from the

proposed schedule.

The City of Hartford has budgeted for approxi‐

mately $1.12 billion in improvements to educa‐

tional facilities over the next ten years through

its Capital Improvements Plan (CIP). The accom‐

panying table provides an up‐to‐date schedule

of school renovation and construction activities

either planned or already underway in the City

of Hartford, as well as their associated costs.

Several Hartford schools are not on the list of

proposed renovations. This is generally because

they have been renovated in the recent past or

are in good condition and are not in need of any

additional work.

School System Physical Plant Recommendations

The City of Hartford’s capital program for school

renovations and construction projects has been

underway for a number of years. As a result of

this program, 10 existing Hartford public schools

have been renovated, 4 new magnet schools

have been constructed, and 5 existing public

schools have been transitioned into magnet

schools. This renovation and construction pro‐

gram has served the City well, helping the school

system progress toward meeting the objectives

and conditions specified in the Sheff v. O’Neill

decision. The City should continue to pursue its

existing capital improvement program for the

School System Physical Plan Recommendations school system.

Goals and Objectives

The City of Hartford provides an extensive range

of municipal services. Public and non‐profit

community facilities provide for the conven‐

ience, health and welfare of residents and

constitute a significant component of the City’s

quality of life. Maintaining an adequate array of

community facilities in good condition to meet

changing needs is an important aspect of local

School Name Address Project

Achievement First Hartford Academy 395 Lyme Street Major renovations

Betances Elementary 42 Charter Oak Avenue Major renovations

Bulkeley High School 300 Wethersfield Avenue Major renovations

Burns Elementary 195 Putnam Street Major renovations

Capitol Prep Magnet 1304 Main Street Major renovations and addition Under Construction

Clark Elementary 75 Clark Street Major renovations

Lewis Fox Middle (vacant) 305 Greenfield Street Conversion to ML King Elementary

Global Communications Academy/New Media High

150 Tower Avenue Conversion to High School

Mary Hooker Environmental Studies Elementary

245 Locust Street Under Construction

Kennelly Elementary 180 White Street Major renovations

M.D. Fox Elementary 470 Maple Avenue Major renovations

Montessori Magnet School at Annie Fisher 280 Plainfield Street Under Construction

Quirk Middle 85 Edwards Street Major renovations

Simpson‐Waverly Elementary 55 Waverly Street Major renovations

Weaver High School 415 Granby Street Major renovations

West Middle Elementary 927 Asylum Avenue Major renovations

WISH Elementary 350 Barbour Street Major renovations


9‐ 16


9‐ 17

government.

Based upon information presented and dis‐

cussed previously in this section, the following

goals and objectives for the provision of commu‐

nity facilities and services have been developed.

Goal: Promote energy‐efficient and sustainable

patterns of development, practices and opera‐

tions for the City and its residents.

Objectives:

Evaluate the use of energy by the City in all its

facets and recommend measures to improve

efficiency and sustainability.

Goal: Continue to improve and enhance police

and fire services to maintain a high level of fire

suppression and rescue service, as well as

expanding effective community policing initia‐

tives.

Objectives:

Budget for capital and programmatic improve‐

ments for police and fire services in the most

cost‐effective manner.

Goal: Continue to meet the health and social

service needs of Hartford residents in a coordi‐

nated and efficient manner.

Objectives

Goal: Provide the highest level of educational

services to the children of Hartford.

Objectives:

Continue to pursue the implementation of the

school facility replacement and relocation plan.

Goal: Provide enhanced public works infra‐

structure to ensure that the City of Hartford can

meet both its current and future infrastructure

needs.

one city, one plan - chapter 9 - infrastructure and ......capacity, and cause basement backups,...

Documents